NEXO’s latest compact line array and full-range modules have been selected for a prestigious venue in Germany, deployed as the front end of a full-service sound reinforcement and safety audio system built on the QSC Q-Sys™ platform.
The light-flooded Kleine Saal (Small Hall) of the Stadthalle Gütersloh, located between the cities of Hannover and Dortmund, is a charming all-purpose auditorium. The 400 sq. m. space lends itself as easily to conferences and meetings, seating 350 people, as it does to birthday and wedding celebrations, corporate events and concerts.
The primary contractor on the Stadthalle project was BECKHOFF Technik und Design GmbH, responsible for the installation of all components, including the voice alarm system. BECKHOFF commissioned nearby NEXO specialists Sound Linear to design and tune the PA.
“Our brief was to design a very small, nearly invisible PA which could provide complete coverage to a minimum SPL of 95dBA,” recalls Kalle Hogrefe of Sound Linear. “This system would be integrated with the voice evacuation and safety alarm, using a QSC Q-Sys™ system to provide all the audio routing, processing, control and monitoring. We have used NEXO’s NXAMP4x1 amplifiers, which are fitted with AES/EBU cards for audio input, and these are set up on the Q-LAN protocol used for the QSC Q-Sys™ network.”
With positive support from NEXO’s R&D department, this became the first implementation in Germany of NEXO loudspeakers and amplifiers on the Q-Sys™ platform.
The PA design had to comply with rigging restrictions in the Kleine Saal: the maximum weight allowance for each line array was 100kg. Given the type of music and spoken-word performances being given in the venue, Kalle Hogrefe recommended NEXO’s GEO M6 compact line array for the main stage system.
The main cabinet is the GEO M620, a compact full-range unit weighing less than 10 kgs. Equipped with a high-efficiency 6.5” LF driver, the M620 delivers a frequency response of 80Hz-19kHz, and up to 127dB.
“In the Kleine Saal, the left and right PA arrays are made up of 6x M620 modules, rigged in a single column below 3x GEO M6B, its partner low and mid-frequency extension box, which weigh even less than the M620. Sharing the same physical footprint, these compact cabinets can be arrayed together while ensuring the weight of the main PA falls comfortably within the load restrictions for the rigging points. The GEO M6 provides exceptional coverage across the width and height of the auditorium. And, in a white finish to match this white environment, the profile of the PA elements is quite close to ‘invisible’ as the client requested!”
To address the balcony, the design included 3x ID24s, the super-compact full-range modules from NEXO’s ID Series, which have been mounted in the truss. Another 3x ID 24 were used on stage as nearfills. For sub-bass, NEXO LS18 modules were hidden below the stage.
Kalle Hogrefe
Sound Linear GmbH
